I Was So Ill Walking Was Impossible As a Stranger Essentially Lifted Me to the Toilets.

During my my late teens, my morning travel involved an express bus. It remained crowded and invariably became completely full by the time I got on.

On one specific day, I was feeling incredibly sick while the vehicle rocked around each corner. I repeatedly told myself to persevere just a little longer so the bus could arrived at my destination, at which point I could make a mad dash for the nearest public toilet to vomit.

As we neared the street towards my stop and I realised I would not be to hold on. All of a sudden, it felt as if a veil came over me. Everything just went white and really quiet; similar to when one muted everything. I thought, “I will lose consciousness”.

Luckily I was toward the front inside the vehicle, allowing me to take several steps to ask the driver and requested that the driver to pull over, informing him I needed to be sick. He opened the doors and I stumbled out onto the sidewalk.

I was determined to avoid being sick in view of a busy multi-lane road, so I picked myself up and began attempting to make my way toward the green space on the other side, where I thought I’d at least be able to find some privacy near some foliage to be sick. But then I must have blacked out. I was aware of my physical self, yet I couldn’t walk or see clearly, leading me to start inching my way to the grassy area.

“You right, love?”

At that moment, I was lifted up. There was a strong arm supporting me and a man’s voice asked, “Are you okay, dear?” I managed to tell the unknown man that I required to get to a bathroom. So he virtually supported my weight down into an adjacent building and placed me into the female bathroom. He inquired if I wanted him to stay with me but I refused.

A few minutes later, I had recovered enough to sit on the toilet and from outside the door came him ask, “Are you feeling better, dear? Is there anything you require?” I could not to rise at that moment but did manage to say thank you and after a few more minutes recovered the use of my legs. I made my way home and then spent the following days getting over which was a nasty tummy bug.

I never glimpsed the stranger’s face – just his lower half and a large container for tools he held – yet he rescued me, at a moment I was at my most vulnerable.

Frequently, society tends to make people guarded, hostile, and combative. His act was the type of kindness that reverses that emotional callousness. He demonstrated that people’s natural inclination is to be kind, something I love about humanity.